On 11th October, FICIL, together with the association “Transparency International – Delna”, Latvian Civic Alliance and the public policy center PROVIDUS, met with the newly elected members of the European Parliament! The key topic of the discussion was anti-corruption and good governance. FICIL was represented by Māris Vainovskis, FICIL Board member and the work group leader on Investment Protection, and by Tatjana Guznajeva, FICIL executive director.

FICIL pointed out to a high administrative burden in Latvia and Europe as a whole, which does not contribute to investment attraction and business development. In addition, FICIL highlighted a significant problem – the lack of a unified interpretation of European Union regulations, which creates confusion, differences in the regulatory environment between the EU member states, and imposes an additional administrative burden on entrepreneurs and citizens. FICIL referred to several cases when local and foreign investors could not access EU funding in Latvia, or when the implementation of EU rules in Latvia has been much stricter compared to other countries, due to a lack of clear and uniform EU guidelines on compliance with the EU regulations. To be on a safe side, many Latvian public sector institutions apply much stricter rules on local businesses and citizens, assuming that it is a standard, set by the European Commission.

Considering the importance of EU funding in Latvia, FICIL asked the members of the European Parliament to better inform the public and business communities about available EU funding opportunities. In view of FICIL, this would promote innovation, international cooperation and strengthen competitiveness of the Latvian economy. Reinis Pozņaks and Mārtiņš Staķis admitted that the aforementioned problems exist and expressed their readiness to contribute to solving them.

During the meeting, “Transparency International – Delna” presented the integrity challenges and shortcomings of the European Union institutions in the regulation of lobbying. The Latvian Civic Alliance together with PROVIDUS explained the scope and impact of two newly created directives of the European Parliament and the Council on the development of civil society in Latvia and EU countries. The organizations presented a position on the so-called “foreign agents” directive, which is planned to create harmonized requirements in the EU internal market regarding the transparency of the representation of interests carried out on behalf of third countries, and the directive on European cross-border associations.

The detailed agenda of the event can be found here.